THE GARDEN

Southland Times, Issue 19291, 9 July 1924, Page 10

THE GARDEN

(By

“Horticola”)

There is no great art in planting a fruit tree, but is it fair to stick the roots into a hole more adapted to accommodate a gatepost? No, surely not, and a little care in preparing a broad station, breaking up the soil well in the bottom, cutting up the turf and placing it on the lower spit, spreading out the roots carefully, and covering them with a few inches of the best soil, is well repaid by the way in which the tree responds to the treatment. Never let the turf grow up to the stem of a young standard for a few years after planting, but it is a mistake to bury the turf and allow weeds to crowd round the stem in rampant luxuriance. The young tree needs staking and tying when planted, but in how many cases this is done, and no further attention is paid to it afterwards, with the results that the ligaments cut into the swelling bark, and gaping wounds appear where the stems are bruised by chafing on rough stakes and fences. STAKING FRUIT TREES. A good deal of trouble is experienced with stakes for fruit trees from first to last, but they are a necessary evil for the support of standard and half-standard trees until these are old enough to be safe against disturbance by wind. Unless given careful attention, they are apt to cause wounds and canker. The tree must be securely fastened to them if they are to be of any use, but girdling quickly occurs unless the ties are renewed every year. To complete the bother, the stakes either rot and break off before they can be dispensed with, or else they remain firmly bedded in the soil so that they cannot be withdrawn when they would be better out of the way. For half-standards a stake 4ft long is ample, this allowing it to be driven Ift into the ground. Each stake should be well pointed, and coated with tar or creosote over about 14in. of the end. Full standards, of course, require taller stakes, and they have to stand more strain. They must never be so long that the top comes up to the lowest branches, or serious damage will result. All stakes ought to be driven in before planting the trees', to avoid damage to the roots. They should be on that side of the tree from which the prevailing strong winds are experienced, usually west, so that the tree strains away from the stake rather than being forced on to it. Securing the tree to the stake must be done well if the tree is to be kept from undue movement without risk of girdling or rubbing against the stake. Take a piece of soft cord and pass it twice round both tree and stake, not too tightly, leaving the ends about 9in. long. Cross the ends closely against the side of the stake, and wind I hem twice tightly round the cord itself where it stretches between tree and stake, and finish off there with a knot. If this is done properly the cord is tight round the stake, but loose round the tree, and the tree is kept away from the stake by the twist of cord and the knot. This plan sounds complicated, but is quickly carried out in practice. BLACK-ROT. The lower leaves of cabbages are usually infected by the black-rot disease first, the germs entering the substance of the leaf through minute openings (water stomata) situated along the margin, or through wounds caused by the punctures of insects, etc. In cases where the soil is infected the germs may gain an entrance to the plant through broken roots at the time of transplanting. When the bacteria are once inside the leaf they multiply rapidly, and are confined to the veins, from whence they pass down the leaf-stalk into the stem. From the stem they quickly pass into the stalks of other leaves, so that within a short time every leaf is infected. As the bacteria travel along the veins and the vascular bundles of the leaf-stalks and stem a dark brown or blackish substance is deposited, which causes the veins to show up as a black network; the vascular bundles of the leaf-stalk and the stem also appear as black points or a blackened ring when cut across. The presence of this blackening of the veins is a certain indication of the presence of the disease. The disease is spread in several ways, (a) As stated above, the germs may enter the plant through water stomata, wounds, broken roots, etc. (b) The soil may be infected by diseased plants which have been fed to cattle, nigs, etc., or which have been otherwise transferred to the fields, (c) It has also been proved that the germs are coneveyed from diseased to healthy plants by insects, (d) It has been considered by growers that the disease can be transmitted by means of the seed, and this idea has been proved to be correct by Harding, Steward, and Prucha, who have shown that, in the United States, much of the cabbage seed offered for sale is contaminated with the germs of black rot disease. To prevent and remedy the disease—(l) transplanting should be carefully done, so that the roots are injured as little as possible. (2) Infected plants should neither be buried nor used as food for cattle or pigs, but should be promptly removed and burned, or infection of the land will follow sooner or later. (3) Rotation of crops is advisable, cereals, potatoes, and legumes not being attacked. (4) The foliowing precautionary measure may also be suggested. Seed can be disinfected before sowing by soaking it for fifteen minutes in a solution consisting of one part of corrosive sublimate in 1000 parts of water, or in a solution of lib of formalin in 30 gallons of water. It is hardly to be expected that this treatment will prevent, either leaf or root infection in infected soils, but it may be safely relied upon to prevent all danger from infected seed. It will not injure the germinating power of the seed. RENEWING GARDEN SOILS METHOD OF TRENCHING. To renew the soil in old flower beds and borders that has become worn out and plant-sick, no better method can be found than trenching. Take out and heel in any shrubs that are in the ground, and any other plants that are worth saving. Proceed with the trenching in the usual manner by opening out at one end and reserving or wheeling the soil that is taken out to fill in the last trench. The paths or walks only having a light surface coating of scoria may be trenched. This will enable alterations in the laying out of the flower beds and walks. Trench about two spades deep, bringing the second spit to the surface if the soil is of a good enough character to admit of this. Fork or pick up the bottom to loosen the hard pan, and, if obtainable, apply a layer ofstraweystable manure about a foot from the surface. After completing the trenching apply a liberal top-dressing of lime. Allow the ground to lay fallow for three or four weeks before sowing with prairie grass, which is the best grass for digging under. It grows throughout the winter, rots deeply forming a mass of vegetable matter, and when dug under in early spring the tops and the roots provide nutriment and humus. With a liberal dressing of blood and bone, the soil will be thoroughly renewed, and in the very best condition for growing flowering and other plants to perfection. Do not sow rhe prairie grass too thickly. When sown thinly the plants grow better and root better.